30AB New section 46AB (National policy statement on urban growth)

46AB National policy statement on urban growth

The Minister must, within 12 months of the commencement of this section, prepare a proposed national policy statement on urban growth in accordance with the requirements under sections 45 and 46.

(2)

The proposed national policy statement on urban growth must contain—

(a)

a prohibition on the use of urban growth boundaries within a regional or district plan where official statistics predict there will be population growth; and

(b)

a requirement for local authorities to undertake detailed spatial planning that sets aside areas of special value, and sets out future infrastructure corridors and networks as an alternative to urban boundaries; and

(c)

a comprehensive list of local government and central government infrastructure costs that should be taken into account when making decisions under this Act; and

(d)

a standard formula for local authorities to use to measure the marginal cost of growth; and

(e)

a standard formula for local authorities to use to calculate the cost of inefficient utilisation of existing infrastructure; and

(f)

rules to ensure that the costs of infrastructure are appropriately internalised for new developments.

(3)

After preparing the proposed national policy statement on urban growth under subsection (1) the Minister must initiate the consideration process set out in sections 47 to 52 for implementation of the national policy statement.

Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper inserts new clause 30AB, amending the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill to insert new section 46AB in the Resource Management Act 1991. This will increase the supply and affordability of housing and land by requiring the Ministry for the Environment to prepare a national policy statement to adopt a new approach to managing urban growth which: abolishes urban growth limits, requires active spatial planning that sets aside areas of special value and lays out infrastructure networks, develops a mechanism to measure the marginal cost of growth, and fully internalises the infrastructure costs of new developments.